The Duty of Love: Kinship and Identity in the Face of Disability in Madrid
Life with a disability in Spain implies a constant struggle not just for the person with disabilities but also for their family, who must mobilise enough care resources to compensate for the lack of social support they receive. This paper focuses on the ways in which having a family member with a co...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Dalhousie University Libraries
2022-03-01
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| Series: | The Journal for Undergraduate Ethnography |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ojs.library.dal.ca/JUE/article/view/11310 |
| _version_ | 1818338316735479808 |
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| author | Marina Mateo |
| author_facet | Marina Mateo |
| author_sort | Marina Mateo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Life with a disability in Spain implies a constant struggle not just for the person with disabilities but also for their family, who must mobilise enough care resources to compensate for the lack of social support they receive. This paper focuses on the ways in which having a family member with a cognitive disability shapes kinship relations, and how the impact related to having a family member with a disability shapes the construction of the family unit as well as the identity of the able-bodied family members. I argue that the narrative of “unconditional love” within the family unit is what enables many families to naturalise the extra work involved in caring for a person with disabilities as part of what it means to be a family – and not as a chore. Care becomes the idiom of their love as it acts as a relational activity through which personhood is created. By humanising the child with disabilities in this way, care is accepted as a “natural” part of their kinship relations. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T15:09:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3dba7beb48cb4936bb096e6518a1f85c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2369-8721 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T15:09:11Z |
| publishDate | 2022-03-01 |
| publisher | Dalhousie University Libraries |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Journal for Undergraduate Ethnography |
| spelling | doaj.art-3dba7beb48cb4936bb096e6518a1f85c2022-12-21T23:40:55ZengDalhousie University LibrariesThe Journal for Undergraduate Ethnography2369-87212022-03-0112111610.15273/jue.v12i1.1131010420The Duty of Love: Kinship and Identity in the Face of Disability in MadridMarina Mateo0University of CambridgeLife with a disability in Spain implies a constant struggle not just for the person with disabilities but also for their family, who must mobilise enough care resources to compensate for the lack of social support they receive. This paper focuses on the ways in which having a family member with a cognitive disability shapes kinship relations, and how the impact related to having a family member with a disability shapes the construction of the family unit as well as the identity of the able-bodied family members. I argue that the narrative of “unconditional love” within the family unit is what enables many families to naturalise the extra work involved in caring for a person with disabilities as part of what it means to be a family – and not as a chore. Care becomes the idiom of their love as it acts as a relational activity through which personhood is created. By humanising the child with disabilities in this way, care is accepted as a “natural” part of their kinship relations.https://ojs.library.dal.ca/JUE/article/view/11310kinshipdisabilitycaremoral values |
| spellingShingle | Marina Mateo The Duty of Love: Kinship and Identity in the Face of Disability in Madrid The Journal for Undergraduate Ethnography kinship disability care moral values |
| title | The Duty of Love: Kinship and Identity in the Face of Disability in Madrid |
| title_full | The Duty of Love: Kinship and Identity in the Face of Disability in Madrid |
| title_fullStr | The Duty of Love: Kinship and Identity in the Face of Disability in Madrid |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Duty of Love: Kinship and Identity in the Face of Disability in Madrid |
| title_short | The Duty of Love: Kinship and Identity in the Face of Disability in Madrid |
| title_sort | duty of love kinship and identity in the face of disability in madrid |
| topic | kinship disability care moral values |
| url | https://ojs.library.dal.ca/JUE/article/view/11310 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT marinamateo thedutyoflovekinshipandidentityinthefaceofdisabilityinmadrid AT marinamateo dutyoflovekinshipandidentityinthefaceofdisabilityinmadrid |